I’ve been coloring my hair for nearly a decade now. I started when I was in college and began with subtle highlights that seemed to get blonder and blonder every year I stayed in California. But it wasn’t until my hair started changing in the past couple of years due to health issues and then when it started growing so fast that I thought more about the upkeep of my dyed locks.

I decided to get more educated about hair coloring and figured you guys may benefit from my curiosity as well! I turned to my number #1 hair colorist who has been painting my tresses for over three years now: Franchesca Cordero, senior colorist at Warren Tricomi.

Fran has been a colorist for ten years and specializes in balayage, custom blending and color correction. She particularly loves working on blondes (lucky for me!) and I love how natural she always makes my highlights look. She recently gave my blonde a cooler tone and I’ve been obsessed with the new look. (I’ll be back in her chair Friday for a touchup for the holiday season!)

Without further delay, read on for all my pressing tress color questions and Franchesca’s great advice! Do you color your hair? Do tell about your experience!

Anyone else prefer their hair when it’s a bit dirty? It styles so much better! And tends to hold styling longer, right?

In the past few years I started noticing friends and colleagues reacting to a hair compliment by replying “oh. It’s so dirty.” Yet they knew it looked good. It’s because second (and third day) hair is kind of the best.

I’ve talked about before how I feel like I trained my hair to be properly styled the way I like it (I used to over-wash it and therefore it was often slick and grease-prone). Yet nowadays I prefer second day hair yet can’t always have it.

The other week as I was preparing for my red eye to Ireland and I suddenly realized how my hair felt like it hadn’t just been washed. It was a little coarse and felt very second day. I had been to a spin class earlier in the day and had to wash my hair afterwards as a result (I like to try and wear myself out before a red eye!) As I had this realization I was instantly intrigued and retraced my steps.

This post may as well as be my September Beauty Edit but each of the below are really cool products I’ve tried and loved. They are each on the unique side meaning formulations or results I’ve not previously experienced with other products so worth mentioning that!